Risa Koizumi
Risa Koizumi (小泉リサ, lit. meaning "little spring") is the main female protagonist of the romantic comedy shōjo manga and anime series Lovely★Complex' created by Aya Nakahara. Risa is from the Osaka Prefecture on Honshu Island in Japan. Risa has always been tall for her age, being taller than the tallest boy in grade school and notably standing 168cm (5’5”) by the time she was in her first year of junior high. Her height often prompts her teachers and classmates to refer to her as “All Kyojin”. Risa and Ōtani Meet Risa first met Ōtani at an Umibōzu concert that fell on Ōtani’s birthday during their final year of junior high (equivalent to 9th grade). Risa’s mother promised she could go to the Umibōzu concert only if she made it into Maido Academy high school, which she successfully did with Chiharu’s assistance. Though Risa was supposed to go to the concert with her younger brother, she ended up going alone due to the fact that there was only one ticket left upon their arrival. Having never gone to a concert before and being alone, Risa felt unsure of her surroundings until she found a boy who appeared to be alone as well. As Risa was walking up to the boy, she noticed he was crying. She asked if he was alright and he responded with a simple, “Yeah,” before answering a phone call. During the phone call, Risa finds out it is the boys birthday, and he ends the call crying again. The concert begins before their conversation can continue. Risa rushes forward getting caught in the crowd, being punched, shoved, and crushed several times before the boy notices and manages pulls her out. She yells her thank you’s to him over the noise of the concert. Suddenly the crowd and music falls silent as she yells for him to “cheer up”, which Umibōzu reciprocates telling the boy to cheer up as well. Risa then yells “today’s his birthday”, the crowd and Umibōzu then wish him a happy birthday as well. Risa later notices her shoe had fallen off while she was sucked up into the crowd. The boy later finds her destroyed shoe in the trash and returns it to her. After realizing Risa would have to walk home barefoot, the boy then offers her his shoes and she gives him a piece of strawberry milk candy in return again wishing him a happy birthday. The flashback ends with Risa and Ōtani meeting up for an Umibōzu concert during the summer break of their final year of high school. They run into an old junior high classmate named Yoshii who was also attending the Umibōzu concert with Risa’s old friend, Ake. Risa and Ōtani reminisce on Yoshii introducing them to Umibōzu and of their first concert. It’s then that they realize the “weird girl” and “elementary school boy” that they both met that day was, in fact, each other. Appearance In the anime, Risa has light red hair and brown eyes. In the manga, Risa’s hair often changes between light red, light brunette, and orange, while her eyes can be seen as both brown and reddish-brown. She is 172cm (5’7”) and is very slender. Risa wears a school uniform consisting of a white dress shirt, brown skirt, blue knee-high socks with white stripes, and reddish-pink shoes. During warmer weather she wears a peach sweater vest with a red stripe and star, and a peach blazer with red stripes on the arm, buttons, and a star during colder weather. She wears the same uniform to school in the manga as she does in the anime, but only during school ceremonies and other important school events. Otherwise she can be found wearing an array of stylish clothing. Risa usually wears her hair tied up in various buns and ponytails, but is can also be seen with her hair down, braided, and in twin-tails. As stated by Mimi's director and producer, Risa has a good body, a nice style, and the height to be a model, much to her dismay. She agrees to replace an amateur model for the day, though stated it was impossible for her to ever look cute. She appears wearing a layered pink dress, having her hair, makeup, and nails done. Her makeover puts Ōtani in a flustered mess, stating, much to his embarrassment, that Risa looked cute. Personality Through the series , Risa is seen as an impulsive and strong character. She is also very awkward and apparently speaks much of it here in general, in not a good way. It is strongly asserts itself by the other characters she's fun for a girl and a fun person to hang out . At the same time, also implications not cute and feminine, the kind of girls who are very popular in Japan , possibly due to her height. Risa's favorite artist is Umibōzu , with her admiration for going to the point of obsession . She is always cheerful and happy, not wanting to reveal how much she is suffering inside, like the one time she got rejected by Ōtani. While she cried in front of Nobuko and Nakaochi, she seemed rather cheery and amused by Ōtani's rejection in front of him. Though she is not cute or girly whatsoever she isn't a tomboy either. She takes high interest in fashion and hair, often wearing her hair in different styles and helping Nobuko with her outfits. Because of this, she goes in a school to become a fashion designer. Suzuki once stated that he doesn't see Risa as a girl, but more like a boy, but in a good way, such as being able to talk to her more easily than he does with other girls. Risa is also very fond of video games, always seen in her spare time playing some, especially Virtual Date kinds. At one point she becomes so obsessed with them that she falls for Maity because he looks like Cain, a character from her favorite game. She is seeing friendship as really important as she feels really guilty for not being able to help Nobuko with an advice when she needed it. Risa is also depicted as not so smart and usually does bad in school, being the only one out of her friends not to attend college in the end, but prep school. She is also seen as clueless when it comes to love and boys, as she never had a boyfriend before Ōtani, though she admits quite fast to herself that she fell for him. Because of this she also has quite a low self-esteem as she was expecting Ōtani would reject her, though she doesn't give up until the end. Also she thinks very high of Ōtani's ex-girlfriend, Kanzaki, wondering why would he pick her over his ex-girlfriend. She also seems very happy when hearing Ōtani presenting her as his girlfriend, though it is later revealed she has her doubts about whether he really likes her or not. Risa is also seen as kind-hearted, trying to bond even with Mimi after all she's done, stating she was feeling sorry for her. When on the tropical island, going to attend Maity's wedding, Nobuko hands her over what she calls "Ōtani's and Risa's key room" leaving them, but mostly her, completely shocked, being stressed and anxious about sharing a bed with Ōtani. On the first night he ends up sleeping between Chiharu and Suzuki, while Risa slept in the room alone. On the next day though, after they made up, they get to sleep together. While Risa was not so enthusiastic about confessing at the begining, after she did it, she find it much more easily doing it, so she says it with relatively small ease everytime she can, so she can reassure Ōtani of her feelings for him. On quite a number of occasions Risa is seen being late, stated by Ōtani that she "is late 1 times out of 3". Also she seems to like rabbits a lot, having a lot of bunny shaped things, and also seems to like romantic stuff as seen jealous of how Nobuko and Nakaochi express their feelings such easily, as well as being impressed about that one guy that gave roses to his girlfriend on her birthday. In the movie, Risa is shown to cry alot, and when she does, the same music score plays Relationships Being the main character Risa has many relationships with the other characters from the show. Love interests [[Atsushi Otani|'''''Atsushi Ōtani]] Obviously, her most important relationship is with Ōtani. Early in the series, they started off having a rivalry relationship that turned into a close friendship, and then by the first few episodes, Ōtani becomes her first and true love as exemplified by how deeply she loves him. Matter of fact, she is truly and deeply in love with him as she never gave up and even when she was trying to give up on him, her feelings quickly overcame the reason. In the end, they express and embrace their deep and true love to each other, and is heavily implied that they married each other as it ends with her exclaiming "From now on, we will always be together." Though she was the one to fall first, despite the big height difference between the two of them(16 cm), it is believed that Ōtani also felt the same way from about the same time, but he wasn't willing to accept it. After her confession on her birthday, and his disbelief of it, considering it just a joke, she struggles to make him realize her true feelings. When he finally gets it is him who she likes, he is quite shocked, asking her twice if that was the case. Blushing, he replied that he will think about it and that he jut needs a little bit of time. Though awkward at the beginning, they soon return to their usual selves and have fun with each other like riding a rickshaw in the process. Trying to buy some bear curry, Ōtani says thay even though Risa is a funny girl and that he'd be prone to say he likes her, he just can't see her as a girlfriend yet. He rejects her and she replies by saying she is so disgusting being so serious, vowing to forget everything ever happened. She leaves in a hurry to meet with Nobuko and Nakaochi, in front of whom she soon starts crying out of grief and sadness from the rejection, with a sad Ōtani watching it over from behing a pole. From that point on, it seemed like everything was going to get back to normal, they enjoyed their field trip but she soon realizes her feelings are too strong to be left alone so she confesses once again. Ōtani took her first kiss while fainting from a cold at his house when Risa visited him to bring him his homework. After it happens, he has no memory of it, saying he was just close to her and saw a bit of rice in her hair, and fainted in the process of trying to get it out of there. A disappointed and angry Risa grabs Ōtani by his collar and kisses him, leaving the latter shocked and surprised. She leaves out in tears and finds comfort in her teacher, Maity, whose plan to make Ōtani jealous soon end up in a complete success. Upon figuring out his true feeling for Risa, Ōtani confesses to her (saying he is just no good without her) after their basketball match. Unfortunately, Risa falls asleep due to exhaustion before being able to hear it. A relieved Ōtani watches her, as she falls down on his shoulder, and an angry Nobu ready to charge in to wake up Risa (with a punch). For her birthday, he buys her a bunny necklace and shows late for the party, staying hidden in the dark behind a wall when the other came on the roof top to see the fireworks. As such, he is able to text her to come there and give her the present, while confessing once again to her, culminating with a kiss. The next day Risa is seen wearing the necklace much to Ōtani's dismay, claiming he doesn't want the others to find out "about this or about that". While Ōtani doesn't expresses his feelings so much often than Risa does, he is obviously in love with her, while the latter is much more prone to shouting out loud how deep in love she is with her boyfriend. Interestingly enough, even after a year after they've began dating, they still refer to each other by their last names "Ōtani" and "Koizumi" respectively, though Risa has been seen in some instances trying to call him by his first name, Atsushi, much to the other's annoyance and dismay. Ōtani has only called her Risa once, on her 19th birthday, in order for her to come and enjoy the fireworks on the beach like all the others, though he said he won't ever say that again in his life. Kazuki Kohori Risa sees Kohori as a little brother, since she is both taller and older than him. He still harbours feelings for her, though she doesn't reciprocate. In fact, she seems rather oblivious to his feelings at the start. However, she soon learns of his crush on her and it doesn't stop her from accompanying him to an Umibōzu concert. He remains faithful to his crush on her, until he starts going out with one of Risa's school mates, who also works at the restaurant where the three of them are part-time working. Though Risa states that Kohori is really cute, the statement was made as a friendly and general comment. Haruka Fukagawa Haruka and Risa are childhood friends, and they remained good friends up until high school. Haruka has a major crush on Risa, coming from when she stood for him in front of some bullies, though later she doesn't respond mutually to his feelings. She sees him as her best (boy) friend, the shoulder she can always cry on, the one she seeks comfort from. Even though Haruka has a "harem" of girlfriends (firstly seven, then nine) he states that he is just practicing for the time he will be with Risa, wanting to be the best boyfriend for her. While she was willing to go with him at the last school festival, she did so only because Ōtani didn't ask her in the first place, and in order to make him a little jealous, which actually worked. This made Risa abandon Haruka in the last moments, though she loves and prizes him dearly, like a brother. Kuniumi Maitake Maity-sensei (as the main characters tend to call him) is Risa's new English teacher. It should be noted that he is very handsome, and that almost every girl in school is infatuated with him, screaming every time they see him. Among those girls who had a crush on him, Risa is probably the most affected one, because of his resemble to Cain, a character on Risa's video game. This leads her in forming a fan-club for him, where she is the president. They come up with songs and cheers for him, usually referring to him as Maity-sama (Lord Maity). Though he seems rather pleased with his fan-club, even coming from asking some questions, Maity is engaged. When she finds out though, she wasn't affected at all as she only admired him because he resembled Cain. Among the students in the school, Risa is probably the one with the closest relationship with his teacher, apart from Haruka who is Maity's cousin. This further is explored in the arc where Maity and his foreign wife are soon to be married on a tropical island and Risa is the one who helps him find her when she goes missing. Their relationship comes from her being the ex-president of his fan-club and also because he helped her with her problems with Ōtani, making him realize his true feelings towards her. Ryoji Suzuki When first introduced, Risa is attracted to Suzuki, and attempts to get his attention. The latter being quite oblivious to her, stating that he doesn't see her as a girl, but more like a boy, being able to talk to her much easier than he does with other girls. This saddens Risa, but she gets over it quickly, and finds out he is now dating one of her best friends, Chiharu, the girl Ōtani had a crush on. Now, they remain on friendly terms. Friends Nobuko Ishihara Nobu and Risa have been best friends since their first encounter in the 10th grade (first year of high-school). Nobu is the older sister figure in Risa's life, often giving her advice in her relationship with Ōtani. When she is to leave in Hokkaido, Risa is really saddened that she doesn't know what kind of advice to give her regarding their relation with Nakao and her departing. While Risa refers to her as "Nobu-chan", Nobu is calling Risa simply by her name. Chiharu Tanaka Chiharu is Risa's only friend whom she has been in junior high with. As so, they have a really close bond, Risa looking at Chiharu as a little sister, in spite of admiring her greatly for her looks and academic performance. Chiharu prices her deeply as well, but she doesn't speak so often, as she is shy. When referring to each other, they both add "-chan" after their first names, meaning that though they have a strong friendship, they still have a little bit of respect for each other and considering the other one cute at the same time. Heikichi Nakao Being Nobu's boyfriend and Ōtani's best friend, the too have a close bond, he helping her with Ōtani, she helping him with Nobu. Not so much is explored in their bond, but she seems to trust him, as she starts crying in front of him (tough Nobu was there too) and also giving him various information about how her relationship with Ōtani is going. Nakao refers to Risa as "Koizumi-san" and she refers to him as "Nakao-kun", proving that while they are friends, they aren't so close as they are with their respective other friends (Nakao with Suzuki and Ōtani, and Risa with Nobu and Chiharu). Seiko Kotobuki A cute rival that fell for Ōtani after he saves them from a dog one day. Seiko treats the rivalry with Risa as being a supportive rivalry, even giving each other advice on their relationship with Ōtani. Seiko got Ōtani to agree to dating, until Seiko tries to seduce Ōtani while in the infirmary and ended up revealing the lack of a chest...Seiko turned out to be a trans. Trivia *Risa is 6 inches taller than the average height for a female, and 7 inches taller than Ōtani. *Risa is also seen older than him, depicted so in the manga, that while she was 18, he was 17 at the time. This also proves that they are not born in the same year, as Ōtani is born in spring and she is in summer. *Her birthday being August the 3rd, that makes her a Leo, and according to the zodiac, her personality and the one of a Leo match quite well. *A running gag in the series is the "idiot punch", a punch she would usually use on Ōtani, either because she is annoyed at him, or to motivate him. Category:Characters Category:Females